Poison God's Heritage Chapter 913: Falling World

They experienced no fear. No, it was never true fear, for fear implies cognition.

This was something more ancient, more primal:

A survival reflex embedded in the deepest recesses of their being:

An instinct screaming that the entity before them was a harbinger of doom, that contact meant annihilation.

Though comprehension eluded them, they instinctively knew that touching the net would lead to the same shrieks as their fallen kin, a fate they found deeply unsettling.

And that was enough. That single, simple notion was sufficient for their unburdened minds.

They ceased their descent—an astonishing feat for two rampaging calamities—their motion slowing, then reversing. Their bodies angled upwards, repelled from the planet as if the very heavens had pushed them away.

The resultant shockwave pounded downwards, shaking the ruins and whipping dust into chaotic vortexes. The cultivators below winced yet again, but crucially, they remained alive to do so.

"You shall NOT escape!" I bellowed, extending my claw-like hands as the net began its ascent, sweeping upwards, outwards, and all around, attempting to ensnare them.

My shoulders burned with agony. My spine felt as if unseen talons were tearing it asunder. The lingering effects of the potent stimulant began to manifest: a searing heat behind my eyes, a churning in my stomach, a tremor taking hold in my forearms.

I paid it no heed.

The net surged like a relentless tide, folding over them. It climbed, enveloped, and drew its edges together. It was a crude, brutal cage, born of desperation, not finesse, but it was closing.

The First Borns were oblivious to the fact that Soulsteel was harmless to their 'unblemished' hides; it would simply dissipate upon contact. It lacked the potency to penetrate sound flesh. Its efficacy against their brother was solely due to his grievous wounds, which provided an entry point for the poison's insidious spread.

They remained unaware.

And so, the cage was completed.

A colossal sphere of poison, vast enough to dwarf the sky, enveloped them, its shimmering, dark lattice blotting out the light like a morbid, metallic sheen.

The two colossal grubs halted mere miles from the polymeric prison. Unable to ascend or advance further, fear gripped them. Instead of a cornered beast's fury, they exhibited the cowering of prey, retreating to the safest haven within their confinement.

The very center.

It was almost pitiable, witnessing apex predators adopt the defensive posture of timid larvae.

Almost.

For their sheer immensity rendered the scene grotesque. Their hesitant movements displaced air with hurricane force. Proximity to the cage caused the lattice to shudder violently. A deliberate push, an act of pure spite from either creature, would have spelled doom for Solarous.

Yet, discomfort was their guide. The agonizing screams guided them, much like a sheepdog herding its flock without needing to bare its teeth.

At long last, as my vision blurred, my body succumbed to the severe aftereffects of the potent concoction, and my brain felt on the verge of liquefying, the scream I had anticipated finally echoed.

My vision wavered. The world lurched. The dark ichor in my mouth congealed into a bitter crust. My heartbeat thundered in my skull like a war drum, each pulse sending stabbing pain behind my eyes.

Then, the wounded First Born's body, still anchored closer to the world, began to disintegrate in a manner my imagination had failed to fully conjure.

Gazing upwards with bloodshot eyes, I witnessed it: the colossal First Born's entire form bubbling, decaying, and contorting. Then, a deafening shriek, and an implosion that amplified and magnified the Soulsteel Poison to a degree that could only be described as monstrous.

It was no clean demise. Flesh swelled into blisters that erupted into black effluvium. Segments softened like wax near a flame before collapsing inwards, putrefying from within as the poison corrupted everything it touched. The subsequent scream was not merely agony; it was the sound of invincibility confronting consequence.

Then it collapsed inwards, like a world imploding upon itself.

The resultant burst did not propagate outwards like a conventional explosion. Instead, it drew inwards, compressing and concentrating the poison, intensifying its lethality for a fleeting moment.

One down.

Two remaining.

And a mother to vanquish.

However, the cost incurred was steep. The instant the final command escaped my lips and the poisoned tide responded, the immense strain of channeling such a vast amount of soul energy through a mortal vessel crashed down upon me with crushing force.

My knees slammed into the scorched earth with enough impact to send a jolt through my spine, but that pain was negligible compared to the infernal implosion ravaging my mind.

My mind reeled with such violence that I thought my very thoughts might spill forth as a molten, unstable slurry of blood and ruin. Warmth trickled over my lip, and I realized with a sickening lurch that it already had.

My vision warped at the periphery, the firelight smearing into chaotic ribbons. The battlefield tilted precariously, as if the world itself were beginning to slide. Each breath clawed its way through my lungs, and every pulse hammered against my temples like war drums.

For one agonizing moment, I questioned if I had triumphed only to perish from my own technique before witnessing its full effect.

"Stop it, right now, stop the poison!" The Dusking Sun bellowed at me.

His voice pierced through the delirium, distant yet sharp, but I possessed barely enough focus to process his words. I could feel my internal channels tearing under the immense pressure, my Qi leaking away like water through fractured stone.

My hands trembled uncontrollably where they pressed into the unforgiving dirt. Every instinct screamed at my body to collapse. Yet, beneath the agony, a single, unfinished thought persisted, one final act that had to be completed before surrendering to unconsciousness.

"Just one second, there's one more thing I need to do."

The words scraped out, rough and strained, dragged over a mouth full of blood and utter exhaustion.

"You'll die! You're literally pouring your soul energy and Qi out, you won't last past more than a few breaths of time!" The Dusking Sun howled again.

I almost spat at his words, a bitter sound acknowledging the truth I already knew. I could sense death's proximity, as if I could smell its presence. A sharp bitterness welled within me at being warned about self-destruction while actively weaponizing it.

"Then stop interrupting me!" I retorted, my hand grasping at the very air around me.

My fingers closed on what felt like emptiness, yet not emptiness as ordinary senses would perceive it. I felt pathways there, subtle threads, poison currents still tethered to me through the corpse of the firstborn. I no longer needed to flood myself with more; that would have been my end. I only needed to guide. This single thought consumed me. I forced my arm upward, fighting against a weight that felt as though the heavens themselves were pressing down against the motion.

"Tell the Flamboyant Sun and the Red Sun to prepare for impact," I commanded through bloodied, gritted teeth.

My jaw vibrated with the effort. My raised hand quivered, fingers spasming under my failing control. Around me, even through my fading senses, I could feel a palpable hesitation ripple through the onlookers. That brief, suspended instant before catastrophe possessed a distinct form of its own.

Then, I slammed my raised hand onto the ground.

The action itself was simple.

Its consequence, however, was anything but.

It was a command now; with the poisoned firstborn deceased, I had re-established the link to my poison.

Now, I could control it. Weaponize it.

This realization sliced through my agony with savage clarity.

And since it had consumed the flesh of the firstborn, it had multiplied, duplicated, and become infinitely more potent. The poison was no longer a carefully crafted attack requiring my precise direction. It had transformed into self-propagating devastation. It had fed, multiplied, evolved through consumption. I no longer needed to guide it drop by drop, atom by atom. My task was now merely to direct the entire monstrous tide toward its next victim.

And it obeyed.

It obeyed with the immediacy of pure instinct.

The world felt as though it were plummeting. The massive, moon-sized poison, no, a veritable sea of it, began its descent, rushing down like a catastrophic dam break. At first, even my own mind struggled to comprehend the spectacle. It was as if an ocean had been inverted directly above the battlefield and unleashed. Vast sheets of venom tore downward in writhing torrents, their sheer volume distorting perception. Their descent shredded the clouds apart. Some portions ignited into emerald fire from the sheer friction of their fall. Others crystallized under the celestial cold before shattering into poisonous sleet. Yet, the majority held together, plunging earthward with catastrophic force.

And it rushed down with an elemental fury and vengeance.

The atmosphere screamed around the descending mass.

Winds twisted into unnatural shapes.

Shadows stretched and warped unnaturally.

The very sky appeared wounded.

"That's a bit excessive... wouldn't you agree?" Don Ma's voice sounded tinged with worry.

Even through my pain, I nearly choked out a laugh at the sheer understatement.

A bit excessive.

Indeed.

Enough poison to bury an entire army beneath a falling sea.

I couldn't fault his assessment; the sheer volume of poison descending could easily blot out the sun. And, in fact, it did.

The battlefield dimmed completely beneath the encroaching deluge. Light vanished under the descending shadow. The entire area we occupied was plunged into darkness as the massive quantity of poison rushed down. Cultivators across the field lifted their faces in stunned silence.

Even rakshasas, creatures born for brutal slaughter, faltered, hesitating before the impossible sight. For one surreal breath, the very act of war seemed to momentarily pause.